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After the Tallinn «Bronze Night» in spring of 2007, a main accusation towards us by Russia was Estonia not honouring the remains and the memory of fallen soldiers. Among other things, a Russian State Duma delegation was dispatched to investigate the matter.
These past days, the world has seen the way Russia itself tends to its soldiers and their relatives. Secretively, servicemen are sent to fight in a neighbouring country, left in the dark as to the purpose and the cause. In any case, the target is sovereignty of Ukraine. About involvement of Russian regular troops in the conflict, undeniable evidence has been published: equipment and documents seized from them, as well as prisoners taken by Ukraine – identified by names and introducing themselves to the whole world via video interviews. To say nothing about new battle equipment and cannon fodder unceasingly rolling across the border into Ukraine.
But the fate of Russian soldiers lost in Ukraine and of their relatives in Russia – still merely worried or already in mourning – just totally boggles any mind. While paratroopers were being buried near Pskov at the beginning of the week, Russia’s own journalists were on location to try and find out what was happening. By unknown persons, they were warned: if you fail to leave Pskov at once, there are «lots of swamps here» and «you may not be found»; also, the journalists were physically threatened on the graveyard.
Even so, photos of fresh graves were released via Russian web portals – after which reports came in of name plates removed at the cemetery, along with pictures of the deceased and the wreaths laid by servicemen. As noted by the well-known Russian journalist Oleg Kashin, these are nameless graves now.
However, the «parcel 200» that reached Pskov is mere tip of the iceberg. A whole army of Russian mothers are absolutely unaware what happened to their sons. Some have already held a press conference, to involve the public to search for the boys. Others have recorded a heart-rending video address to president Putin and defence minister Mr Shoigu. And, in the hope that the lost Russian soldiers may still be alive and held by Ukrainians, people do not hesitate to appeal to the adversary. «We are all having to ask the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian people: please understand the situation our troops were put in. Please spare their lives!» wrote Igor Chubais, a professor in Moscow.
Even so, Russia is not owning up to its soldiers involved in the battles. The regular Russian army troops recently captured by Ukraine had just «mistakenly» crossed the border.
«The silence of the authorities or the incomprehensible comments they make only serve to feed the atmosphere of distrust, and force us to recall unpleasant instances from Russian and Soviet history,» the Russian newspaper Vedomosti wrote yesterday. Among other things, they referred to the war in Afghanistan – with the fallen buried under shroud of silence back in the USSR.
Meanwhile, yesterday served us fresh news of fierce and bloody conflicts along the borderlands of Ukraine.